The matchups are not yet set in stone, however, as St. Pierre’s
recovery from knee surgery could require more time to heal. In the
event that St. Pierre is unable to compete, Condit has stated
publicly that he would prefer to defend his interim belt against
Kampmann, the man who spoiled Condit’s UFC debut and handed Condit
his lone loss in his last 14 outings. UFC 154 is expected to air
live on pay-per-view from the Bell Centre in Montreal.

St. Pierre (Pictured, file photo), 31, has not lost since suffering
a 2007 upset to Matt Serra
that cost him the welterweight strap. Since that loss, “Rush” has
won nine straight, recapturing his title and successfully defending
it against Thiago
Alves, Jon Fitch,
B.J. Penn
and Jake
Shields. St. Pierre was expected to defend his title last
October, but an injury postponed his defense until February’s UFC
143. That also was not to be, as the champion tore his ACL in
training and was forced to withdraw once more.

Condit was thrust into the UFC 143 main event on the heels of St.
Pierre’s knee injury, outpointing former Strikeforce champion
Nick
Diaz to win the interim welterweight championship. “The Natural
Born Killer” has earned five Octagon wins since his hard-fought
defeat to Kampmann, topping Diaz, Jake
Ellenberger, Rory
MacDonald, Dan Hardy and
Dong
Hyun Kim in that span.

Hendricks, 28, has won eight of his nine bouts in the UFC, with
only a 2010 decision loss to Rick Story
marring his professional record. “Bigg Rigg” rebounded from his
loss to Story with a trio of victories in 2011, taking a split nod
over Mike Pierce
between knockouts of Fitch and T.J.
Waldburger. Hendricks’ most recent outing came at UFC on Fox 3
last month, when the southpaw edged Josh
Koscheck in a split decision.

Kampmann has also found himself on a roll as of late, posting three
straight wins following a pair of contentious decision losses to
Jake Shield and Diego
Sanchez. “The Hitman” outpointed Story to close out last year
and kicked off 2012 with a pair of victories, submitting Thiago Alves
with a guillotine choke in March before knocking out Ellenberger
one week ago at “The Ultimate Fighter 15” finale.